One Synth Challenge #148: Kuma 508 by beatassist.eu (Jasinski Wins!)

[Taron]

Ok so no velocity sensitivity? Maybe no piano sounds then.

No vibrato? Ok so maybe no solo wind/strings patches then.

So... Um. Maybe a drone track? :p

Exactly, that's what I'm talking about. Very limited modulation/control. But one can work with that.
Vibrato you CAN sort of get, if you use the FM in that way carefully. It's flimsy, of course, but also interesting. You can use the amplitude of the vibrato then by adjusting the L (level) of the modulator or even its own envelope, which you'd tune carefully to control the frequency of the vibrato, which unfortunately has to scale with the note frequency...making it not stable, of course. But it works quite well.
I made a little flute for my test track, which sounds pretty interesting. "flute-like", I should say.

But, YES, a drone track is perfect! ...mine has such qualities.
But drums can be excellent with this one!!!
Also you can use the envelopes to use note duration for more dynamics, which works quite well on drum sounds, too, but all short sound types.

[TheFrozenSea]

Ok so no velocity sensitivity? Maybe no piano sounds then.

No vibrato? Ok so maybe no solo wind/strings patches then.

So... Um. Maybe a drone track? :p

Exactly, that's what I'm talking about. Very limited modulation/control. But one can work with that.
Vibrato you CAN sort of get, if you use the FM in that way carefully. It's flimsy, of course, but also interesting. You can use the amplitude of the vibrato then by adjusting the L (level) of the modulator or even its own envelope, which you'd tune carefully to control the frequency of the vibrato, which unfortunately has to scale with the note frequency...making it not stable, of course. But it works quite well.
I made a little flute for my test track, which sounds pretty interesting. "flute-like", I should say.

But, YES, a drone track is perfect! ...mine has such qualities.
But drums can be excellent with this one!!!
Also you can use the envelopes to use note duration for more dynamics, which works quite well on drum sounds, too, but all short sound types.

Yeah that sounds similar to the chorusy effect on my FM piano patch. It sounds quite decent honestly but without velocity it will be boring to listen to for a full song. Also the mod wheel seems to be hard-wired to modulator depth... But oh well. I'll figure something out

[] Peter:H []

Again about the presets it is a bit weird ...
The structure in the Windows Zip is this:
BAEU-Kuma-508_Win64.zip\SoundBank\Windows 64-bits Soundbanks\Danny Woodbridge Presets\VST3 Presets\Duarte Vinagre\Kuma 508
...
BAEU-Kuma-508_Win64.zip\SoundBank\Windows 64-bits Soundbanks\Michael Struggl Presets\VST3 Presets\Duarte Vinagre\Kuma 508

You have to go into each individual folder on the "contributor level" and copy all bold folders to
C:\Users\<userid>\Documents\VST3 Presets\

[] Peter:H []

Deleted - replaced by my Submission on page 4

[ELEX]

@ Richard or BJ: It says here ( https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-148-kuma-508 ) that commercial effects are allowed, but they're not mentioned in the OP here. What is the case ?

[tickytock]

Kuma's text instructions for the presets is to place its "Presets" folder in library/audio/presets, and there is no "Presets" folder in Kuma.

I don't know if this helps with Mac, but on Windows I put the presets in Documents\VST3 Presets\Duarte Vinagre\Kuma 508. The synth reads them directly from there.

How about saving a patch from within the synth, and see where it places them on your system - then you can copy the presets (not their folders) from the installer zip to there.

Thanks for this idea, Richard. I saved a patch and then tried to find it on my computer, but it would not show up anywhere, even when I tried looking for "hidden files" with the usual command+shift+dot setup. I'm beginning to believe in magic!

[tickytock]

About the presets thing
In the ZIP I have downloaded there's a presets folder.
In the ZIP I have donwloaded there's a folder "DOC" containing a "Windows x64 preset install.txt". Quote:
To install the soundbank and preset manager for X64 versions of Kuma 508....
...please copy the "VST3 Presets" folder to your documents folder!
Documents Folder -> C:\Users\"user"\Documents
All your presets should be stored here so that they show in the presets menu of the VST!

I think there's even help for Mac. Can anybody check if this does the trick?

Thanks for this idea, Peter. I tried a few things along this line, but haven't had any luck. I think this must be a Mac problem.

[tickytock]

Another thing I'm running into is that the oscillators refuse to turn on and off. I think this might be a Mac OS Big Sur issue, as Big Sur has caused plenty of other issues.

[1980-F]

Would love to get going on this, but feeling stupid at the outset:
In mac os 11.3.1 (Big Sur) the synth installs just fine after the usual skirmish with Apple blocking over "unidentified" developers. But Kuma's text instructions for the presets is to place its "Presets" folder in library/audio/presets, and there is no "Presets" folder in Kuma. Tried putting "Mac OSX - Soundbanks" folder in there, but this did not work. I figured out a convoluted way to upload individual presets, but it's really cumbersome. Would like to hear some presets just to get a sense of what the synth gravitates toward. Any suggestions on a fix, so that I can easily access the presets from the synth? Thanks in advance!

I can only tell how it works with Logic and Garageband (and Mojave):

Under "/Library/Audio/Presets" I created a folder "Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508"
I copied and renamed all the "Kuma 508" preset folders there one by one.

Now I have the following folder structure:
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Dirty
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Factory
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Jideh High
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Living Pads
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Michael Struggle

You can now choose the presets via the Logic Library (does not work in Garageband) or the Logic/Garageband plugin menu , but not in the synth GUI directly.

Hope this helps.

[tickytock]

I can only tell how it works with Logic and Garageband (and Mojave):

Under "/Library/Audio/Presets" I created a folder "Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508"
I copied and renamed all the "Kuma 508" preset folders there one by one.

Now I have the following folder structure:
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Danny Woodbrigde
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Dirty
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Factory
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Jideh High
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Living Pads
/Library/Audio/Presets/Duarte Vinagre/Kuma 508/Michael Struggle

You can now choose the presets via the Logic Library (does not work in Garageband) or the Logic/Garageband plugin menu , but not in the synth GUI directly.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for this--I'll try it!

[wandering-genie]

Hello!! My name is Carlos and I am from Argentina. I am new here.
I would like to try the One Synth Challenge this moth and though I read the rules I have a couple of doubts about what it is allowed and what it is not allowed.
First of all, Do we only have to use a DAW to host the selected synth (Kuma 508 in this case)? Can we use a tracker programme like Psycle, for example?
Is it allowed to begin the work in a tracker and then import the resulting audio in a DAW to work further on it?
Is it allowed to score on a score editor (Musescore, for example) and then export the result as midi and import that to a Daw to work with Kuma 508?
Well, that's all for now. I'll appreciate your answers. Thanks in advance!!

[FrogsInPants]

Hello!! My name is Carlos and I am from Argentina. I am new here.

Welcome!

First of all, Do we only have to use a DAW to host the selected synth (Kuma 508 in this case)? Can we use a tracker programme like Psycle, for example?

I don't see why not.

Is it allowed to begin the work in a tracker and then import the resulting audio in a DAW to work further on it?

I think the rule that applies here is: "Audio must not be touched at all once it leaves the DAW (i.e. after bouncing a track or a stem). For example: One cannot master the audio in another software or service." If you're generating the audio in a tracker, it's essentially fulfilling the role of the primary DAW in this rule, so that's what you get. At least, that's how I'm interpreting this. I'm no authority, though.

Is it allowed to score on a score editor (Musescore, for example) and then export the result as midi and import that to a Daw to work with Kuma 508?

Yes, how you create your MIDI data doesn't really matter. Once it is in your DAW project, it's just MIDI data. I've used MIDI from Musescore in some of my OSC projects.

[wandering-genie]

Thank you very much FrogsInPants !!

[baalisoda]

@1980-F - Thanks for demystifying the accessing and setting up of preset banks for this VST (which I found unnecesarily complicated).

I tried your library structure (in Windows 10, Fl Studio), it works (as you have correctly said, not from the synth GUI itself but from the VST Wrapper menu).

So far, haven't found a sound that matches with my style (plus my sound designing skills are rudimentary at best).

Still, hope to complete a track if I can.

[RichardSemper]

@ Richard or BJ: It says here ( https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-148-kuma-508 ) that commercial effects are allowed, but they're not mentioned in the OP here. What is the case ?

Oops overlooked this. thanks.
Corrected now - no commercial effects.